Friday, May 9, 2008

And then on the fifth day, the rain came

After four days of emails, calls, blogs that made me sound far better than I am, and beautiful Long Island weather I can get oh-so-used to, I'm back at the Dell and ready to figure out what the heck I'm gonna do next.

I've decided to keep this blog alive a little longer. My revised goals for it are at left. Reasons for stopping it on July 7?

1. Taking it through the NHL draft and first week of free agency sounds about right.

2. I'm leaving on a trip - no, not one of those drinking and cultural jaunts where I'm gonna "find myself" - in mid-July.

3. Blogging on this particular subject beyond two months might be too time-consuming, get in the way of, you know, finding another job and, frankly, more than a little bit pathetic.

My hunch is that my posts will be shorter than the essay-type stuff I did during my final season with the Islanders. There will be some views on the Islanders and hockey, but it also might be a place to self-indulgently discuss my search and anything else that happens over the next two months.

Oh my Lord, I've become a real blogger.

It will be PG-13 at worst and may disappoint anyone looking for me to sling mud. I could have some constructive criticism, but I don't plan on airing any laundry or gripes. Of the latter, I do not have any.

Please use the comments section to publicly or privately make points, ask questions and offer career advice or, of course, careers.

Yikes, you are starting to sound like us! Seriously, though, I completely understand why it might be strange for you to continue blogging about the Isles for the long term. However, it would be a shame if you didn't continue writing publicly. Always a great read, Chris.

You shouldn't stop there (7/7 that is). Take a vacation? Sure. Necessary and deserved. But to think you are one dimensional and shouldn't continue to write for the masses is foolish. You have not only impecable insight into this sport as a whole, but also the business of sports.. AS A WHOLE. And no one made you sound better than you are. Everyone presented what they saw and what they were sure of. I've always been the PollyAnna of the bunch, but I do believe 'everything for a reason,' and when one door closes, another is about to open.

Thanks for always being open and honest with us. Those are two of your finest qualities.

Time heals all wounds... and the lead pipe I have in my purse wounds the heels. Wait... Did I say that out loud? Ooopppss...

Can't express to you enough what your dedication has meant to us fans over the years. Sure, there were episodes of PR BS on the website, but i think us fans always understood that you were with us.

I am sure you don't remember it, but several years ago I sent an email to the isles complaining about something (my specialty). You personally responded and asked me to call you. You then gave me an hour of your time to discuss the issue and just to talk pucks.

That human touch, well, you just don't see that anymore. Not in sports, not in business, not anywhere.

I worked over the summer with a fella named Howie who used to work with you. He confirmed that you were in fact a great guy and as genuine in your passion for the isles and the fans as you seem to be.

I wish you all the best and hope that at least stay apart of the fan base that you have been so instrumental in maintaining.

Chris - did it drive you nuts having to pacify fans after the many many nutbar moves by our (gratefully former) GM, MMM? To wit: (essentially) Spezza, Chara, and Muckalt for Yashin (then a 10-year deal!), drafting DiPi instead of Heatley or Gaborik, Dumont for that book by Nabokov (or perhaps just a disappearing, wilting page of it), McCabe, Bertuzzi, and a 3rd rounder (Jarkko Ruutu) for Linden, Luongo and Jokinen... Torres for no-kneed Niinimaa who couldn't pivot if his left foot was a peg... I could go on but we all know the litany of pain therein. Sure Milbury made a few great trades and acquisitions (Blake, Aucoin, Bates, and the one that fell in his lap: Osgood - which he promptly tossed out the window for NOTHING... okay, for Justin Papineau, which is French Canadian for nothing). Just wondering how you felt about these moves as they were happening and what strategies you devised to make them less unpalatable to fans. -- from an Isles fan from Toronto who has followed the Isles since they drafted Denis Potvin. Tom Eagles, co-moderator of 'brokenstick' - an Isles yahoogroup mailing list.